Asian Games 2023. Nikhat Zareen’s Asiad campaign starts with a dominant win, Preeti Pawar reaches quarterfinals

Hangzhou. India’s two-time world champion boxer Nikhat Zareen entered the pre-quarterfinals of the Asian Games with a dominant 5-0 win over Vietnam’s Thi Tam Nguyen in the women’s 50kg category, while Preeti Pawar (54kg) entered the quarterfinals. Did. The match between Nikhat and two-time Asian champion Nguyen was a repeat of the World Championship final in March in which the Indian boxer won by unanimous decision to reach the pre-quarters. Preeti also dominated by defeating Silena Alhasnat of Jordan by RSC. Despite being the current world champion in the 50 kg event, Nikhat was one of the four boxers who did not get a bye in the first round.

Nikhat said after the win, “I did not expect this match to be one-sided but I had planned for it to be that way. My plan was to win the first two rounds by unanimous decision so that I can be relaxed in the third round.” With the Olympic quota at stake, Nikhat said that she is focusing on qualifying for Paris first. “I am focused on qualifying first,” he said. Then I will think about the final and the gold medal. All four boxers who reached the semi-finals of the lightweight category will get Olympic quota.

Nikhat shook her opponent right from the start with accurate punches, forcing the referee to give ‘eight counts’ to Nguyen twice within 30 seconds in the very first round. In the second round, Nguyen tried to make a comeback but Nikhat gave a befitting reply with strong punches and the Vietnamese boxer got ‘eight counts’ for the third time. In the third round, Indian boxers reached the next round with excellent punches. Now Nikhat will face South Korea’s Chorong Bak in the round of 16 while Preeti will face Kazakhstan’s boxer and three-time world medalist Zhaina Shcherbekova. Earlier, 19 year old talented boxer Preeti won against her Jordanian opponent by RSC (Referee Stoppage). Preeti, who reached the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championship earlier this year, however, started defensively and then adopted an aggressive stance. She easily won the first two rounds with powerful punches, after which the referee gave two ‘standing counts’ to Silena in the second and third rounds and stopped the fight.

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